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How to become a Great Client

I just got this blog post in my e-mail from Seth Godin this morning which ties in nicely with the book What Your Contractor Can’t Tell You that my good friend Susan introduced me to. Nevermind that Mr. Godin uses logo design as his example, and never mind that the book focuses on working with Architects and contractors as opposed to Landscape Architects. BOTH sources discuss the same notion: being a “good” client, or at the very least, an informed one (weirdly, though, they seem to disagree on some points).

“Good” clients are beneficial to the entire process, save everyone time, money, and headaches. The responsibility is not the client’s alone, however. When the relationship between the client and the professionals they’ve hired is a productive one, the project always benefits. I am thinking about getting extra copies of that book for my office (knowing full well that suggesting to someone that they read either the post or the book won’t necessarily result in them reading either). It is that good. No, really. The $15. you spend on that book can save you thousands in the long and short run. Not a bad return on investment!

I leave you with images from the Windmill Garden in San Francisco – a seasonal planting that I really enjoyed back in April 2006.

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Hi!
I wanted to say I really enjoy your posts on working in garden design. It’s really interesting to see things from ‘the other side of the fence’, and helps open my eyes to things I wouldn’t have considered otherwise.
Could I request a post on finding and making first contact with a designer for those of us with gardens out of your jurisdiction so to speak? You’ve convinced me that outside help would be a good idea for my yard, but I don’t know where to go for it, and I don’t want to give the wrong first impression by not knowing the right terms.